Chapter 505: Stop talking!

In the trees where the Luna’s group had taken position, bullets kept flying, everyone shooting from a distance and reloading with the kind of speed only skilled hands could manage. Through it all, Laila was struggling to reload, her spare bullet pack tumbling off the top of the car onto the ground.

Gilbert, still firing alongside the men stationed with them, heard her curse under her breath and hurried over, digging through his backpack to pull out a bullet pack for her. He handed her his own loaded gun and took hers, reloading it for her with quick, practiced hands.

"I’ve got you." Came his words.

Laila found herself staring at the doctor for a moment, watching his fingers move fast and sure with the reload, she’d assumed he’d be clueless about all this, someone likely to get himself killed here. Instead, his hands were long-fingered, the veins along the back tracing a pattern like something carved deliberately by an artist, beautiful manly hands.

Laila’s mind had nearly wandered too far at the sight of his hands and what else he could do with them when she suddenly heard Viola scream, "No!"—and then bolted into a dead run toward the pack grounds.

Laila snapped out of it immediately, turning to see the Luna sprinting straight toward the direction they’d all been told to avoid. She frowned deeply as she jumped down off the car, calling to Tess, "What the hell is wrong with her? Where is she going?"

"I don’t know, she was just looking through her scope, not even shooting, and then she took off. Should we go after her?" Tess asked worriedly, already reloading her gun, and Laila answered,

"Hell yes, let’s go, before she gets caught in that chaos and the Alpha takes our heads for not keeping her here."

The two women broke into a run after the Luna, and Gilbert catching sight of it, had no way to stop them as they ran with speed past him. Realizing their plan to stay hidden was already ruined and as he had been assigned a leader, he had little choice but to follow, shouting orders to the warriors nearby to cover them.

Laila, running at full speed, quickly caught up to Viola, grabbing her hand, though Viola fought to pull free, crying, "He’s going to kill her, Laila, we have to get to her!"

"Who?" Laila asked, keeping a firm grip on her hand. By then the rest had caught up too, and Viola, frantic, turned to face all three of them, speaking fast.

"There’s no time, let’s just go, I’ll explain on the way." She said, already breaking back into a run as she explained, "I was looking through the scope at the building grounds, trying to spot where Zoe might be, and I caught sight of her running down a hallway. Before I could even say anything, Nick was right behind her, he threw a dagger at her." She said anguishly, hoping the dagger hadn’t met.

Viola had only meant to scout the building so she could help lead Sebastian to his sister faster, never imagining she’d witness Nick throwing a dagger at her instead. Unable to hold herself back, she was already running toward the building.

Hearing this, the rest of them picked up their pace immediately, and within moments they were inside the pack grounds, gunfire roaring around them like thunder, with cloud of smoke and dust.

As if by instinct, the three of them fell into formation around Viola, covering her from every side as they ran, shooting down anyone who tried to stop or target them.

Everyone’s breath was a cloud in the cold air as they ran.

A bullet struck the ground right at Viola’s feet, but she barely registered it, sprinting into the building with the others close behind.

The lobby stood empty, flickering fluorescent lights buzzing overhead, and they fanned out, scanning the space for Zoe.

"Where did you see her?" Gilbert asked with his gun raised, and Viola calculated the direction from where she’d spotted her, quickly leading them toward the staircase heading up.

Gilbert took point, walking ahead, gun raised, letting the women fall in behind him, but being in front meant he was the first to see her, well before the rest, and he came to a dead stop as he almost stepped on her.

He froze in horror.

(Music recommendation: Me Before You Orchestral by Craig Armstrong.)

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Viola came up right behind him, wondering why he’d frozen, but the moment she saw what had stopped him, her own feet stopped dead, alongside his.

Every drop of blood drained from her face, her gun slipping from her fingers at the sight of her best friend lying in a pool of her own blood. Within seconds, Viola dropped to her knees on the stair landing, where Zoe lay, and checked her pulse with a shaky hand.

She found a faint pulse, and Zoe’s glossy eyes opened at her touch, her chest heaving with shallow breaths.

"Zoe...!" Viola called out, trembling, staring at her friend’s torn stomach, the skin split open grousomely, her insides no longer contained and spiling out.

She watched as Zoe’s barely-open eyes slowly turned toward her.

Zoe had tried to move and get out, but her body had failed her, and she had thought she would die alone without ever seeing any of these people, her best friend and friends, again. But seeing Viola through her blurry eyes, she felt relieved and grateful.

"She’s alive, Gilbert. Please, help me lift her, sh-she’s bleeding too much. We need to get her somewhere you can treat her." Viola said, panic rising in her voice as she tried to pull Gilbert down beside her, but the doctor remained frozen, unmoving, and Viola’s frustration boiled over.

"Forget it, I’ll carry her myself. Laila, get the first-aid kit, so he can treat her." Viola ordered, reaching out to lift Zoe herself, but Zoe’s weak hand caught hers, gripping tight, stopping her from moving her as Zoe felt the intense pain might take her away faster from them.

"Pain..." Came Zoe’s hoarse, weak voice, a tear sliding down her cheek. "Don’t... Vee..."

Zoe could barely feel anything past the pain consuming her whole body, and she wasn’t sure she could survive being moved, could already feel her own breath slipping further away with every passing second.

Viola, who until this moment had expected not even once that when they found Zoe it would be in this condition, refused to not try to do something to at least safe her.

"Let me lift you up, please, just hold on, I’ll get you somewhere safe." Viola said, her voice cracking, but Zoe only smiled, blood smearing across her lips.

"Forgive me...Vee. I... Don’t want to die...but I think... It’s too late..." Came her weak voice, her eyes finding her sister-in-law’s, who was already shaking her head, over and over. "It’s okay... I’m okay, I’m not scared of dying, Vee... Don’t cry."

"Stop talking, Zoe! Stop it, just stop! Please! Gilbert, don’t just stand there staring, do something, you’re a damn doctor, you can save her!" Viola cried out, yelling at the doctor still frozen where he stood, like he was also giving up.